In 1980s Romania, Dallas is the biggest show on TV. Actually, it's the only show, besides state-controlled news and North Korean soap operas. The authorities present the saga of a Texas oil family as a cautionary tale about the evils of capitalism.
Dallas enthralls the country—including Ilie and his daughter Livia. He is a small-time criminal and aspiring capitalist; she pines for the show's leading man, Patrick Duffy. After communism falls, Ilie builds the Hotel Dallas, a life-size copy of the TV show's mansion. Livia immigrates to America and becomes a filmmaker. Her first movie stars Patrick Duffy, as a man who dies in Texas and wakes up in Romania, in a hotel that looks just like home.